Why these Teesside firms are advising for feasibility for next generation in boho offices

Three Teesside professional firms are to advise on extending Middlesbrough’s digital and creative hub.

The council has appointed architects, Logic Architecture; commercial property consultancy Dodds Brown, and quantity surveyors, Steel River Cost & Project Management (SRCPM) to do a feasibility study on the Boho Next Generation initiative.

Made possible with £100k development funding from the Tees Valley Combined Authority, the project, in consultation with Middlesbrough’s existing digital business base, will include feasibility work and development concept drawings to build a clear picture of short- and long-term commercial space requirements.

Architect Mark Barlow of Logic Architecture’s Middlesbrough office, said: “We are delighted to have secured this exciting commission in our home town and look forward to meeting with all existing and prospective tenants…

“We will use this intelligence to inform our design proposals which will seek to complement the existing Boho buildings by creating a different style of workspaces to appeal to even more creative and digital companies and strengthen the growing national significance of Tees Valley as a tech hub.”

With little remaining office space available in the Boho cluster, and digital and creative firms wanting to remain together in close proximity, Dodds Brown will prepare forecasts for demand and rental levels for new space.

Logic Architecture will draw up design proposals which will seek to complement the existing Boho buildings, while SRCPM will provide full cost advice and estimates for the proposed new buildings.

Stephen Brown, senior partner at Middlesbrough-based Dodds Brown, added: “Boho is an extremely successful concept, but with office space there, and indeed elsewhere in Middlesbrough, presently in very short supply, we will be providing the market analysis of demand for a new generation of office buildings.

With Middlesbrough highlighted as one of 16 booming ‘digital suburbs and tech towns’ - adding £304m to the local economy in the recent 2018 Tech Nation report into the UK’s digital economy - Middlesbrough Council is keen to ensure the town and the wider Tees Valley are in a good position for the next phase of growth in this sector.